High Tides
by The Vampire Avatar
Summary: Ludwig and Feli are as different as they can get. A merman and a human don't exactly match, and Feli knew this. They cannot coexist peacefully, that's always what Feli has been told. But after Ludwig saves Feli, he begins to think that some humans may be good. Maybe even worth seeing more than once...GerIta.
1. Chapter 1

It was calm under the surface of the ocean today. Not too bad currents, the fish were in a good mood and it was the perfect day to go out for a swim.

He only wished that he could be a little better with time.

Feliciano Vargas had been exploring the beach shore during high tide and had lost track of time. The water went back and he didn't realize it until his head was well over the water. By then he had to crawl to the water, but still couldn't seem to make it.

Currently, he was still trying to get back to the water. It was much harder than it looked and he was silently cursing the sand for being so troublesome, the sun for being so damn hot and bright, and the air for being so dry.

Feli, as his friends would call him, was a merman. He had a brilliant blue tail with fins not only on his tail, but on his arms as well. His tail fins had a black stripe going down the edges of them along with his arm fins. He even had gills on his neck that were begging for water.

He had once heard that merpeople had to stay in the water otherwise they would dry out. He didn't believe it, but his older brother and grandpa had told him never to test fate.

"...damn...land..." He manage to croaked out. It was getting very hot and even with the wet sand underneath him, he felt like a fish out of-

Well you get it.

He was so close to the water, to surviving, but before he could drag himself to the water, he heard a sound coming from behind him.

Panic filled his veins and he increased his already frantic moves to the water. He was trying to explore the shore for shells, that's where the best ones always were. During high tide it was safe, but as said earlier, he lost it.

"All...for the...shell." The blamed shell was in his hand still, glistening in the sunlight. It was beginning to get harder for the merman to scramble around, and he was desperate enough to start flopping around to get there faster.

There was that sound again! He quickly stopped thrashing around and turned. A for legged creature covered in hair was running around, screeching loudly. The beast must have been calling for backup because two others soon were following it, screeching even louder.

Feli screamed the best he could on land and out of water when the beasts ran up to him, growling and sniffing him all over.

As if his luck couldn't get any worse, Feli heard a human, a HUMAN, shouting something the direction the beasts had come from.

Said demons quickly backed off Feli and ran to their master. Feli looked over to where they were going and took a deep breath before continued trying to crawl back to the water.

The dogs rejoined their master on their daily walk he have them. Their master was known as Ludwig Beilschmidt, a German who moved here with his brother and grandfather after the accident all those years ago. He had bright blue eyes and matching blonde hair. Ludwig was tall and strong and hated the beach. Any type of water scared him and he didn't like being so close to it.

Today he only went on a walk here because something just felt like he should. As if destiny was calling him here. And who was he to question destiny?

Ludwig glanced around the waves crashing at his feet and he sighed. His dogs started to growl and bark, which gained his attention. He scanned the beach for anything out of the ordinary and saw a man trying to drag himself bag to the water. He instantly began to ran over, was this man trying to kill himself?!

But suddenly he jerked to a stop, finally seeing what was making his dogs act weird. This was no man, it was half man, half fish! He had fins on his tail and on his arms, cuts on his neck that were flapping on his skin, as if trying to breathe like a fish would.

"What the hell?!" He shouted, scaring the poor man even farther. "W-what are you?!"

The merman stopped thrashing to stare at the human. Wasn't it obvious? Feli was always told that humans knew about them through myths and folk tales. Was this human not properly educated?

"Water...need water..." He begged of the human. He needed to breathe again, and soon.

The German quietly examine the specimen. Of course, it could be a mermaid but it had no um...no chest...um...

Even the thought of boobs was making the man blush slightly at the awkward situation. He shook his head before grabbing one of the mans arms and began to pull him to the water

"Verdammt, you're heavy." Ludwig kept on pulling his fishy friend back into water. As soon as they were able to get water to reach his gills, Feli gasped as if he just came out of water. No being able to breathe properly, the efforts of dragging him into deep enough water were increased.

The German didn't even realize he was in the water until he was splashed with the mermaid tail as he raced away from shore, now free of his trap. once he did, however, he quickly made his way out of it and fell on the sand.

Ludwig wasn't sure what had happened, but as he continued to gulp air down, he knew in his mind he wanted to see that thing again.

"Mein gott...I've got to take it easy on beers..."


	2. Chapter 2

Feli swam under the water as fast as he could, he needed to get home and he needed to get home now. He was a fast swimmer, one of the fastest. When he was a kid, he and the other kids would race. Even though he was, and still is, more on the small side, he always won. The kids always taunted him for being so scared most of the time, but his brother always stood up for him.

His brother, Lovino, was the opposite of him. He had a red tail, darker hair, even the curl was on the opposite side of his head. He was very tough and he knew how to make people bite eat their words. While he was only a couple minutes older than him, he acted like he was four years older instead of four minutes older.

The point was proven when he finally got to their cave, he was immediately shoved up against the cave wall. "Where the hell have you been?!"

Feli looked up to see his twin's furious eyes glaring down at him. "Answer me, bastard! Where have you been?!"

"Ve~, hi fratello," Feli answered nervously. "I was out exploring."

"Exploring? Where? You were gone for hours," Lovino let him go but he was holding onto him with his deadly glare. "Grandpa was so worried about you, stupido. What are you going to tell him?"

Feli looked down and ran a hand through his hair. "That I was exploring...I'm fine though, I promise." Lovino looked like he was going to say more, but was interrupted by a voice coming from down the cave.

"Feli? Is that you?" It was their had lived with their grandfather ever since their parents died when they were barely even three. He had always made sure they knew they were loved and that they were safe.

"Si, grandpa, I'm home," Feli smiled down the cave where he swam out to meet them. Their grandfather, Roma, while being their grandfather, was unusually hot. Having a silver tail, he was very muscular and still looked young, even though he was older than most. His hair still hasn't even turned white.

"Where have you been? I was so worried about you." Roma hugged him close. "You didn't go up to the surface did you? You know I don't like you being up there when it's daylight."

Their parents had died from humans. Ever since then, Roma had been very careful with his grandchildren. He did not like when they went up to the surface of the ocean, he felt like something would happen to them again.

Feli gave him an earnest smile and shook his head. "No, I didn't go to the surface today. I was-"

"Exploring. That's the same bullshit excuse you use every damn time you disappear. I want you to tell me what you were really doing, bastard!"

Feli slowly took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, because that's what I usually do."

"But what took so long this time you dummy?"

Roma sighed and shook his head, "Enough you two. Feli, I know you like to explore the beaches to find any shells or something. Did you find anything today?" One of the best things about their grandpa, he didn't push Feli. He made sure he was safe and that he did what he was told, but if Feli didn't want to say something, he normally wouldn't make him.

Feli smiled and held up the shell that he got before the human helped him back into the water. He liked it a lot, it was a normal shell, nothing special, with a few brown lines going down it. Shell collecting was a good hobby of his that he enjoyed doing often.

Roma looked amused when he saw the shell and held out his hand. "Oh, this one is pretty. Are you going to add it to your collection?"

Feli nodded and smiled, "Ve~ Yup!" After an awkward pause, he nodded before turning and leaving.

He swam to his collection across the cave and pretended not to hear the two family members discussing his 'exploring.' He knew that if they found out about the human, he wouldn't be leaving the cave again for a very long time.

To distract himself, he studied his collection. He had to have at least a hundred different shells in his collection, ranging in color and size. He even had a purple one! Granted, he found it in some paint, but it was still purple nonetheless.

Feli looked up from his shells when he heard Antonio's voice coming into their small home. "Hola chicos, how are you doing?" Antonio came up to Lovino and gave him a hug and a kiss on the neck before being shoved off. He just smiled and laughed at Lovino's reaction.

Feli grinned. He liked his brother's boyfriend. He was very pretty and very nice. He was stronger than the two Vargas brothers, but not as fast. He had a green tail, and like them, had fins on his arms.

Though he wished that he had somebody to love as well, he was happy for the two. He had wanted somebody to love for a long time and always thought it would be a beautiful girl with lots of jewelry and long hair. But he seemed to like guys more.

In fact, he thought about the man who saved him. He liked muscular guys and the human sure had muscles. Even though he was dragging him back into the water, he liked being held by him. He loved his eyes, the blue eyes like the ocean. He had such blonde hair that he never seen before. Most of the merpeople where he lived had brown hair, nobody really had blonde hair. Even if they did it always turns darker in the water so it didn't really show.

Feli quickly shook his head and tried to focus on anything else. What fish is the fastest, how hard is it to get out of a current, where do the dolphins like to play, anything to distract him from thinking about the human.

After all, his parents were killed by humans. He felt like he broke an unspoken law to never allow a human to see you, which he had. To like one, even a little, was ten times as worse. What would his brother say? What about his grandfather?

No. He can't see the human again, he shouldn't. But Feli knew that he would see him again, he had to.

* * *

Ludwig was confused. And that was putting it very lightly.

After he got out of the water and caught his breath, he called his dogs back. Then they jogged back to his house. It was only a mile from where they were now, so it wasn't such a feat. His house was bigger than most, some would call it a mansion, others would just say it was a vacation home. To him, it was both. It was much larger than his old home and it was right by the ocean, so in a way it was a vacation home.

He was still wet from the ocean water when he walked through the door. His brother, who was usually very loud in every way possible, was quiet tonight. It frightened him to no end when it was like this. "Gilbert," Ludwig called through the house. "What are you doing?"

"I'm in the kitchen, bro," Gilbert called back. Gilbert was a very obnoxious man, but he had his times. When the accident happened, Gilbert managed to not only save him but help him through the rest. The funerals, where the two would end up, even holding him when he had nightmares. Older brothers were useful when it comes to that stuff.

Ludwig sighed and went into the kitchen to find his brother with his pet bird. Gilbert had named the bird, after his 'awesome self,' Gilbird and the two were always good buddies. He had gotten him a few years after they moved in and Ludwig had to admit they were a cute pair.

"Is grandfather home?" Ludwig asked his albino brother, who scoffed at the question.

"When was the last time he was? Three months ago?" He shook his head. "No, he isn't home."

Their grandfather would leave at random times without a goodbye for months, sometimes even years, without a word and then show up out of the blue as if he never left. He never spoke about where he went, what he did, or who he was with. Ludwig and Gilbert thought that when he taken them in he would actually get close to the two, but he left a week after they arrived to his house.

They didn't see him for three years. He always supplied them with money and the bank automatically handled the bills. Mostly, it was just Ludwig and Gilbert at the house.

He wondered what Gilbert would have done if he was with him when he saw the...what was he anyway? A mermaid? He didn't have any uh...chest...stuff...so he was male then? Was there a thing like that? A merman? He didn't recall any stories about it. But he supposed that they had to reproduce some way. Even so, it was just fairytale stories, right?

Ludwig absentmindedly blushed as he thought of the merman. He was cute, even if he was out of breath. Why was he so heavy though? He didn't seem to be that heavy, but he weighed about as much as he could bench press, if not more. Ludwig wondered if he would ever see him again, would he remember him? Could he come onto land?

"...Ludwig? Did you hear me?" Gilbert was suddenly in front of him, waving his hand in front of Ludwig's face.

The blonde snapped out of his thoughts, sighed and pushed his hand out of his face. "Nein, what did you say?"

"The awesome me asked why you're so wet." His brother studied him before returning his attention to the bird. The bird chirped and flew up into his master's hair, seeming to like the nest it made.

Before he could filter his words, he babbled out,"I went to the ocean today and I had to help-" He stopped. Did he dare tell his brother? Would he try and hunt him down? For an unknown reason, he felt like he had to protect the merman from other humans. It didn't seem to trust him when it first saw him. It seemed frightened of him, actually.

Gilbert stopped playing with the bird and looked at Ludwig. "You had to help what? Was somebody drowning? You don't go into the water, ever since-"

"JA," he snapped, then cleared his throat. "Ja, I know. I had to help a uh...dolphin back into the water. Nobody was around and it had washed up on shore." It was the only thing he could think of to say on a single note and it was somewhat believable.

His brother only watched him for a minute before shrugging. "Whatever. Hey, later, I'm gonna go out drinking, you wanna come?"

Ludwig shook his head and quickly went to his room, "No thanks, Gilbert. Tell everybody I said hi though."

He shut the door to his room and sat down on the bed. With just a glance, he was able to see where exactly he had helped the merman back into the ocean. Was he okay? Did he get washed up somewhere else?

With a shake of his head, he laid down and crossed his legs. Whatever the case, he wanted to see him again. It was very crazy, but he seemed drawn to the creature. He would do anything to protect it from getting hurt.


	3. Chapter 3

The German sighed. It was a long day already and it wasn't even noon yet. The worst part was that he was alone. Gilbert hadn't come home from drinking last night. It wasn't unusual, he would just sleep over at his friends' house instead.

However, Ludwig hadn't gotten out of his bed yet. He was trying to delay the "getting up" part of this day. He didn't have a job, there was no need for one with all the bills paid already, so everyday he felt like he was on repeat. Get up, train, shower, walk dogs, come home, read, go to bed. Occasionally there would be a surprise event going on like if he went to the store.

He felt so alone. He didn't have a friend, never really had been good at making them. He did have good friends, but very few and he didn't really talk to them.

Did he have any friends? That...merman. He needed to name him. He had a blue t-tail, right? Maybe he could nickname him blue or something.

This was too weird. Way too weird. He was naming a merman. Naming. A. Merman.

Ludwig sighed. He rolled over on his side to steal a glance at the clock.

11:42. The blue numbers glared at him, as if upset at him for not enjoying the slow day. Even if it had been a very slow day, it wasn't fair to him that his thoughts were on "blue."

Was it normal to want to see somebody so foreign? So different? The German man sat up and stretched, shaking out the sleep that remained in his system. Enough was enough, it was time to get up.

He knew where he had to go.

Feli's tail fins twitched with anticipation to be used. He hadn't left the cave all morning and he was really wanting to get out. He hadn't really left since he got home yesterday. Not even to hunt for his breakfast.

Feli sighed. He was bored of this. Ever since he was helped back into the water he wanted to go back out. Just to see him again. He laughed at the irony. A fish out of water while in water.

Feli never really had a crush on anybody, forget about being in a real relationship with anybody. His brother had been in one or two, but Feli liked him with Antonio. He was really nice even with Lovino being...Lovino. Even if he wouldn't admit it, he knew that his brother loved Antonio back.

He looked up from stacking rocks on top of each other, a pastime he did whenever he was extremely bored or deep in thoughts. Lovino was out with Antonio and their grandfather would be out for a while longer, claiming not to be home until after dark.

He got up with a jolt when he realized something. With nobody home, nobody would see he left. With a guilty smile, he started swimming quickly to the beach he saw the human. He needed to call him something. Two legs seemed kinda mean. Maybe blondie? No...again, mean.

Feli smiled at the thought of his blonde. He was very strong, his arms were the size of his head! Even if he couldn't pick up a merman like him. He was so small, how could nobody pick him up? Especially somebody so strong like um...That human.

Note to self, Feli thought to himself as he swam towards the surface, create a nickname for the human.

One of the best things about living under water was breaking the surface. The water pressure didn't effect them, but to Feli he swore he could feel it lift off when he got close. The light looked so pretty when you're right below it. If you stayed a few feet below the surface for a while it felt like you're on top of the world.

Feli smiled as he stayed right below the surface for a moment. He remembered the first time he went to the surface.

He was just a toddler when he went up with his parents. It was so terrifying for him and Lovino. His parents tried to coax them out of the water by jumping out of the water and nudging them up.

Lovino eventually got annoyed by it and broke the surface just to make them stop. Feli stayed below the water, scared of the air above him. He only knew water his whole life and they wanted him to go into a literal new element. But if Lovino could do it, he could too right?

He slowly swam up and poked his finger trough the waves and felt air for the first time. It was too cold! He quickly brought it back and swam down a few more feet. Why would anybody do that? It was so horrible.

Feli turned as he heard some dolphins come up next to the merpeople. He flinched as some of them jumped out of the water. But luckily, he wasn't the only one. A baby dolphin came up next to him and nuzzled his arm.

Feli smiled nervously and pat the dolphins head. The dolphins mom came up next to them and nudged her baby to the surface. The baby singing to his mother, Feli smiled. He hesitantly swam up to follow the baby dolphin and his family.

The first time he broke the surface he gasped. His gills instinctively flapped with no water around them. The sun was too hot and the air felt sticky. "Mommy?" He broke up his eyes and looked around. His mom smiled and picked him up, hugging and kissing him.

Nowadays, Feli would jump out of the surface like his parents would. It reminded him of that beautiful time. He missed his parents but he knew his grandfather still loved them.

Today he didn't jump out. Instead he slowly poked his head out of the water and looked around. He was on the right beach right? And he was sure he was far enough from being beached again. Although, with the humans arms around him like that, it wouldn't be too bad...

Quickly he shook his head and tried to shake off his blush. He shouldn't be having these thoughts! If his brother, or even just his grandfather, found out he would be in so much trouble. Feli didn't even know what he would do. Maybe he could go live with the tropical merpeople over in the pacific. he heard that they were nice enough.

While Feli was in his thoughts, somebody came up to the beach. They weren't moving around, just standin there. The blonde was searching for somebody.

Feli spotted the same blonde from before and jumped back a few feet, startled at the sudden appearance. He smiled and went under to swim closer.

Ludwig went down onto the beach. He hated being so close to the water, but he did want to see Blue again. His eyes scanned the shore first, but with a relieved sigh, he didn't find anything. Then he searched out in the water. He found something out there and it looked like a man, but he shouldn't be out so far.

Then the man disappeared under the water. Ludwig gasped and stepped forward, worried for the man. "H-hey," he called out, "are you out there?"

Suddenly, the so called man reappeared much closer to the shore. But it wasn't the human as he thought. It was the merman! Ludwig stood there and gaped like a fish, mind suddenly turned blank.

The merman smiled and lifted his hand up and gave a small wave. Now that he could see him closer than before he had the chance to study him.

Feli smiled at the human. He knew he shouldn't be happy that the human was studying his fins and gills, but he couldn't help but blush under his watch. He tilted his head at Ludwig after a few minutes. "H-hello?"

Ludwig jumped back when he spoke. He looked like somebody had slapped him or something. Feli was confused, he knew that he could speak. He did ask him for help before, right? "What's your name?"

Ludwig gaped and swallowed hard. He didn't expect the merman to speak. He had totally forgotten that he asked for help before. Was it normal for him to freeze up like this?

Oh. The fish had asked him a question. Name? What's his name? He was unsure, but racked his brain. It couldn't be that hard to remember his name, right? It was uh...

So maybe it was hard to remember his own name.

Ludwig eventually cleared his throat and gave a shaky smile. "It's uh...L-Ludwig." Mission accomplished.

"Ludwig? That's a weird name. Mine is Feliciano, but you can call me Feli." Feli smiled back as if he's be born smiling all his life. It was practically a natural thing to do for him.

"Luddy, Luddy, where are you?"

Ludwig tuned out the voice calling out for him and continued to stare longingly at Feli. "Ludwig?" Feli asked, starting to get worried. "Ludwig who's that?"

Ludwig only listened and heard his brother's voice calling for him. Panic soon filled his own  
veins. If his brother ever saw Feli they'd have more trouble than they would ever need. Gilbert had a really good habit of not shutting up when he needs it.

"Ludwig! Bro where are you?" They both turned their head at the sound of Gilbert's voice followed by his footsteps. Ludwig gasped and turned to Feli.

"You need to leave, now! Hurry, before he sees you," he stepped into the water and gave a shooing motion. "Now!"

Feli jumped and turned around before turning back to Ludwig. "But what about you?"

Ludwig gave an amused smile, it made his heart melt, "it's just my stupid brother, I'll be okay."

Feli blanched when he saw a distant figure walking towards them and turned to Ludwig. "Will you be here tomorrow?"

Ludwig immediately nodded, "Of course. Just go, okay?"

Feli nodded and went back into the blue water, quickly disappearing from view. Ludwig sighed when he left and turned to his brother. "Hello, Gilbert."

"Bro! What were you doing on the beach? I went home and you weren't there." Gilbert came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're not trying to drown yourself are you?"

"Nein," he gently pushed his brothers hand off of him. "I'm just on a walk."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey guys, this is just a repost of this chapter. Somebody pointed out that it was kinda weird, so I looked at it and...wow. So sorry about that. If you want, you can skim through it now, it's better. Sorry about that, I have no idea what happened. I guess fanfiction decided to mess it up. Anyway, sorry about that.

* * *

For the next few weeks, the two had met up everyday. Even if they only could meet up for a short while everyday, the two loved their time together. Feli could hardly believe his luck, a human actually was nice and had kept his promise of meeting up everybody. Ludwig felt the same, only he was confused with the situation.

He went on a walk everyday, that hadn't changed. However, what has changed is that his new friend was a fish and he went to meet him everyday. Ludwig didn't even mind going in the water to meet him. He never went up higher than his knees though, which confused Feli to no end. Why would somebody only go into something so incredible for a short time and barely at that? He had tried convincing him to go in deeper before, but Ludwig profusely refused.

To try and make up for the distance between them, everyday Feli went closer to the shore. It worried Ludwig, but he assured Ludwig that he would be just fine. In all honesty, he was worried himself, but he was sure that Ludwig would help him. After all, he trusted him now. Despite him being a human, Feli trusted Ludwig with his life. It almost frightened him.

But everyday they continued to meet up, same time, same place, rain or shine. One day their meeting collided with high tide. Ludwig went up to his knees in the water and glanced down, worrying that Feli wouldn't be able to get close enough, and if he did he would get beached again.

"Feli, I don't ," Ludwig turned to his friend to see that he was sitting on the shore next to him. "What are you doing?!" Ludwig quickly grabbed his arm and started pulling him deeper into the water. "You can't be this close to the shore! You'll get stuck again and-"

"Ludwig stop it! I want to be here," Ludwig stopped pulling and looked at Feli. "It's okay, I'll leave when the water starts to go down again. I want to be this close to you."

Ludwig studied his fish friend and sighed. Said friend was giving him the "guppy" eyes and a cute smile. "Please, Ludwig? I promise I'll be fine." It was so tempting with that smile but...

"Fine. But only for a few seconds. Then we're going back in the water." Feli immediately perked up at the Germans words and nodded.

Even if they were only at knee length water, Feli was glad that Ludwig agreed to sit with him in the water. He got a chance to study Ludwig up close. His bright hair and eyes had always stood out to him and it was better up close. He had his hair pulled back and Feli wanted to mess it up oh so badly. His arms were just as he remembered, huge and strong. In fact, his entire body was like that. Well, as far as he could tell. Ludwig refused to take off any clothes. They always got wet if he sat down in the water like today, but he knew that Ludwig didn't mind.

Feli beamed and continued to watch his friend. Whenever he got to see him his heart felt as if it were flying. Actually, whenever he thought about Ludwig his heart felt like it was going to burst. His chest always tightened and he felt so special. It was almost indescribable. He never felt this way before about anything before, what was it? And of course he couldn't ask his family what this was because Ludwig was a human. Life was not fair to him, but being with Ludwig made up for it.

Ludwig had only seen Feli one this close before and he didn't have much time to study him. Ludwig watched his tail, it was different than what he thought it would be like, or in the movies. It had the basic shape, obviously, but it had something like side fins on it. Even on his arms, he had fins. It struck Ludwig as odd, but it was only uh..natural? He sighed and Ludwig tried to think of something to start a conversation. The answer practically slapped him in his face. He was just studying his tail, right? "Feli, could you tell me about what's it like underwater?"

Feli was suspecting this question, but he wasn't prepared for it. He looked up into the sky blue eyes and tried his hardest not to melt. His heart started to flutter, both from his feelings and from his nerves. Something in the back of his head started going off. He wasn't suppose to be meeting this man, but to tell him information about merpeople? It was punishable by death.

Was it worth it? His hesitation seemed to speak for him, Ludwig seemed to get it and looked out to the sea. "I understand, you can't tell me just yet. If you want I can tell you about what it's like on land to even it out. Then," he turned to Feli and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe someday you can tell me what it's like."

Ludwig stopped talking and turned back to the water. Why was he being so nice to this guy? Normally, he didn't care for anybody but himself but when he was with Feli it felt as if something...clicked? His chest tightened and he blushed when he thought about Feli, which was often. Did he like him? More than just a friend?

Feli blushed and shook his head, "I-it's nothing against you, I promise! Please don't hate me, I j-just don't know if I can tell you, I'm so sorry, I don't-" Ludwig cut him off by putting his finger to his lips, silencing them.

"Feli, do me a favor and shut up." Feli gulped and nodded. "Thank you," after he pulled his hand back he began talking again. "Nein, I understand. I don't hate you, I just…" He sighed, it was harder than he thought to explain himself. It normally was like this, but he didn't like not knowing what to say.

"Ve, wait, I have an idea! What if I show you?" Feli turned to him with a smile on his face, now excited.

Ludwig gave a confused look at the sound he always made and looked at Feli. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean I'll take you out and we can look down into the water. I'll make sure that you'll stay above water and everything!" Feli grabbed his hand and started to try and go farther into the water.

Ludwig started to pull back and immediately got defensive. "NEIN! Feli, nein, stop!" He managed to pull his arm out of his hand and stepped back, then he gracefully tripped on his legs and fell on to the shore. He shook his head furiously then avoided eye contact.

Feli gaped at him, struck by the reaction he received. He felt tears prick his eyes and he turned to avoid Ludwig seeing him crying. "I-if you really don't like my idea, you just had to say so…" He turned and started back in the water.

Ludwig heard him on the brink of tears and looked up. "Wait, Feli. Don't cry, I didn't…" He sighed and looked down and muttered something. Feli sobbed and looked up.

"L-Ludwig?"

"I ca...can't swim, Feli. I...Ich habe angst." Feli looked confused at the foreign language and tilted his head. "I said," he growled and closed his eyes. "I'm afraid. I don't know how to swim and I'm afraid."

"Ludwig, I don't understand why you don't know how to swim," he giggled at the thought of somebody not knowing how to. "But I promise you I'll keep you above water and if you really want I'll hold your han..er..I'll help you if you go under." He blushed furiously and smiled sweetly. "Please, Ludwig? I have to go back in the water soon anyway. Pretty pretty please?"

Ludwig blushed slightly and considered the offer. He would actually be with Feli longer and he promised that nothing would happen to him. Deciding it would be okay for a minute, he went back into the sea water and went up to his hips. He was already starting to freak out and every nerve wanted him to turn back. But for Feli? He'd do anything.

Suddenly, a chilling thought stopped all others. What about the drop off? This beach had a very sudden drop off and some people have drowned here before. He gulped in fear, once he passed that point, he would be in open water. "Feli, the drop off isn't that far from shore, what happens once we go farther?"

Feli smiled and swam up to him, taking his hand. "I'll make sure nothing happens to you. I guess I can teach you how to swim or something? If nothing else we can just look beyond it or something," he gave him a reassuring smile. "It'll be fine."

Ludwig thought it over for a minute more before nodding. Feli beamed even brighter and pulled him into the water. Ludwig was chest high in water and he gagged at the waves splashing in his face. "Mein gott, how do you live with all this water?"

Feli laughed and put his head down in the water. He snuck a glance at the human's body and blushed. He shook his head and looked at the drop off, quickly approaching. Something down there moved quickly but before he could really find out what, Ludwig squeezed his hand. Feli brought his head back up and blinked. "What?"

"I asked what you were doing?" Ludwig seemed nervous and he was jumping on the sand now to avoid the waves. They were immensely bigger than the others closer to shore and even somebody as big and tall as he was would have trouble avoiding them.

"Ve~ I was checking where the drop off was. It's right there," he pointed to a place in the water as if it was clear as day where he was pointing. "So be ready!"

"Ja, I'll try." Ludwig mentally and physically prepared himself for going off, but as soon as he felt himself take a step into nothing, something grabbed his ankle and pulled him down. He tried to shout, but the water surrounded him before he could take another needed breath. Ludwig was being pulled down deep into the water by the thing that grabbed his ankle. He flailed around, trying to break free to no avail. Feli shot down after him and Ludwig wanted to gasp at the sight of his friend in water. He saw him above water, but never below. He looked beautiful. His hair all around in the current, all his fins in action, everything.

Feli went down under him and tried to pull the thing that was dragging him down off of him. "Lovino, get off!" Ludwig had never heard Feli shout like that and he was speaking just as he would above water. "Get off, please!" Ludwig's lungs were bursting for air, begging to breathe. He could start to see the edges of his vision getting darker and fuzzy.

Feli tried to pull his brother off of Ludwig, who in turn shoved him off. "Get the hell off of me, bastard!" Feli was quickly getting desperate and grabbed his shoulders. Lovino turned and glared at him, "What are you doing!?" He let go of the human to shove his brother against the drop off. Lovino grabbed his neck and started to throttle it. "I'm trying to save you from the human, you stupid!"

Feli started to freak out and grabbed his wrists weakly. "Brother, I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe-"

Ludwig couldn't fight the darkness enclosing him anymore and gave in, watching the bubbles rise to the surface before he went under the dark.

Ludwig watched helplessly as he thrashed underwater, trying to get to the surface. He thought about the accident, how he felt like this before and how he and his brother managed to get out. His parents took he and his brother out on a boat before to go fishing in the ocean. They were having such a good time until a sudden storm hit them and their small boat flipped over and sunk.

Ludwig recalled the fear that was in his veins, the pounding of his heart, the screams of the humans trapped in the water. His mom and dad tried to keep close to them, but the waves eventually pushed them away from each other. The only way Gilbert had managed to hold onto Ludwig was tying a rope to their wrists.

Ludwig didn't remember much after that, just that a huge wave pushed them under the surface and they weren't able to get back up with the waves continuing to push them farther down. He blacked out not shortly after. He woke up to the sun on their faces and Gilbert unconscious next to him. He sat up and cried out for his parents for about an hour before Gilbert woke up and held him while he cried. Their parents were never found, but they both knew what happened to them.

Ever since then, he's been afraid of water and never liked being in pools, the beach, anything that people swam in, he hated going to. Not just because of the people, though that was a huge reason, but he hated the memory. Everything was just...horrible.

Until he met Feli, and even then he was very hesitant. And it proved to be, what would happen now? Would Gilbert be okay without him? Would he even find out about what happened? He wished he could even say a last goodbye to him. And to Feli, it wasn't his fault this happened.

Just before he totally went under, he could feel somebody grab his arm and feel the water around him move.

Feli managed to pry his brother off and quickly swam to Ludwig. He didn't know how to really help a human or anything, he just knew that humans couldn't breathe underwater. Ludwig's eyes were closed and he wasn't moving. Feli let out a small gasp and quickly latched his arms around his body and swam up. Ludwig was seriously heavy and he was having a hard time, but he managed to get him up over the drop off and continued to pull him up to the surface.

However, before he could get Ludwig up to the surface, Lovino grabbed Feli's tail and pulled him down. Feli gasped and tried to swim out of it and desperately pushed Ludwig up. He turned to Lovino and shook his head, "Fratello, no! I have to save him, please," Feli gave his best guppy face.

Lovino shook his head furiously, "No, I won't let you save a stupid human! He'll wake up and kill you!" Lovino dragged him down to eye level and growled, his eyes glowing with anger. To make sure he didn't escape he grabbed his shoulders tightly. "I'd rather you get eaten by a shark!"

Feli shook his head again, panic seeping in his heart. "Ve, I'm so sorry for this," he quickly slammed his head into his brothers, effectively making him let go of his shoulders. "I'll be back, promise!" He swam as fast as he could to Ludwig and grabbed his arm, finally bringing him to the surface. It didn't seem like he was waking up. Maybe he had to bring him to land?

Once he dragged him to the shore, high tide quickly leaving, he laid him on the sand. He had to practically drag the both of them up on the beach and even then it took military crawling to fully get on the sand. Once again beached, with the occasional small wave to splash over them, Feliciano watched Ludwig for any signs of movement. "Ludwig," he shook his friend's body desperately. "Ludwig, wake up. Please?" He tried his best to make sure that Ludwig was breathing. His chest was moving up and down, that was a good sign, right?

Feli soon felt the dryness from the sun and not enough water. He felt his gills flap on his skin, almost begging him to go back in the water. "Ludwig...please...wake up." Tears soon ran down his face and he crawled into Ludwig's arms. The last of the high tide was gone and even his tailfins couldn't touch the water.

Feli started to pant and he laid his head down onto Ludwig's chest. His parents were killed by humans, but would Feli actually die for a human? His eyes fluttered closed and he continued to make sure that Ludwig was breathing. He was tired and had no idea when Ludwig would wake up.


	5. Chapter 5

When Ludwig woke up, he thought he had died. Immediately he wanted to cry. Why did he have to die when he was so young? He still wanted to do many things. He wanted to say goodbye to Gilbert, spend (a LOT) more time with Feliciano, actually learn to swim, maybe even get married if he ever found the right person. But now because he had died, he wouldn't be able to do any of that.

But something didn't seem right. There was something extremely heavy on him that was making it hard to breathe. Did the dead have to breathe as well? He always thought that when you died you would just ascend into wherever dead people ascended to.

When Ludwig opened his eyes and looked around at the silky white clouds in the sky, felt the sand and waves playing with his feet, and heard the birds screeching, he realized he was still alive. The relief of being alive numbed his senses and he gave a small chuckle. Everything would be okay now, he thought as he closed his eyes, Feli probably saved me. He went back into the water with the tide and he went home. He was safe, and so was Feli.

"Ludwig?"

His eyes shot open and he leaped forward, practially shoving his friend off of him. Feli had been lying on his chest until he woke up to make sure he was okay, but it seemed like something was off. "Feli," Ludwig grunted as he pushed him off fully. "Feli, what're you doing out of the water?" Panic laced his voice even as he tried to block it out.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay," Feli croaked. It was hard for him to breathe, let alone talk or move. "You were asleep for a while." The sound of his voice alone made Ludwig's heart break, the words just crushed him farther.

With an idea blooming, Ludwig shot towards the water while practically ripping his shirt off. He put his shirt into the water while Feli watched his muscular chest move. Let's not mix words here, Ludwig was hot. The way the sun and water hit his muscles made Feli's cheeks blush with admiration. The way that they moved was dazzling, he never really thought of humans like this. His blush darkened when he realize what he was doing. Thinking of something like this, and for a human.

He didn't even realize what Ludwig was doing until he placed the soaking wet shirt on his dried tail. Feli flinched at the sudden feeling of Ludwig gently running the shirt over his tail. "It's okay, I can do it."

"Nein!" Ludwig snapped and shoved his hands away. He looked up at the shocked face Feli was wearing and sighed uncomfortably. "Feliciano, please, let me, you almost could've..." he couldn't finish, horrified at the word. He was the reason why Feli had come up to save him from whatever drowned him. If he had just said no when Feli begged for him to swim, none of this would've happened.

Feli figured out what Ludwig was thinking and smiled gratefully. His hands found Ludwig's and gently pried the shirt from his fingers. "You're doing it wrong." He grabbed the shirt and put it on his gills. The cool water on them once more refreshed him and he looked back at Ludwig. "My gills are more important if I ever get too dry, then my tail, and after that my fins."

Ludwig sat there and watched the merman tend to his watery needs. "How would you know this?"

Feli placed the shirt on what water did reach him to get more and wrung it over his head. "I'm, uh, used to it I guess. This isn't the first time it's happened. I come up to the surface a lot, you see."

Ludwig sighed. He reached down to the water to splashed him a little bit. "Why would you purposely dry yourself up?"

"I don't! I just like to come up and collect shells and well," he paused uncertainly. "Well I like watching humans."

Ludwig turned to him in mild surprise. Feli was something different from what he could tell of other merpeople. Definitely different from the ones Feli spoke about. But as Ludwig thought about how different Feli was from his kind, he realized that he was the same. He didn't have many friends, he only ha a brother as a true companion, he was a wallflower, the list could and does go on.

Feli tossed the shirt back to Ludwig and gave a friendly, yet cautioned, smile. "Could you help me back into the water? I have to deal with my fratello, plus I already have been gone longer than I should."

Ludwig blinked and processed what he was asking before nodding his head. "Ja, alright. Sorry for all this."

Feli smiled at him and waved his worries off. "Ve, it's not a problem!"

The two grabbed hands and began to go deeper into the water. As soon as Feli felt the water surround his tail, he have a relieved sigh. The water seemed to heal his drying tail and made all the difference to his mood. Ludwig seemed to be doing okay, that's a plus too.

They were only about a quarter of the way there when Ludwig saw his brother walking down the shoreline. He hissed a curse under his breath and quickened his pace. "Hey, West!" Ludwig dropped Feli in frustration and cursed louder. "What're you doing here?" Gilbert waved his hand and jogged over to them.

Feli's face quickly turned to fear and looked at Ludwig. "Luddy? What do we do?"

The German could only glance down helplessly at his friend. "I don't know, I'm sorry." He looked up at his brother, now closing in on them. "I don't know."

Feli watched the new human with fear and adrenaline in his veins. He knew that Ludwig was a nice human, but it took weeks to build the trust. And even then, some of the things Ludwig did scared him. He had never seen this human before and now his life was in their mercy.

Gilbert jogged up to his brother and his friend (he assumed it was, after all Ludwig didn't hang out with people he wasn't close with) who were in the water. "Hey, you went into the water! Are you getting better of getting over your unawesome fear of-" he stopped short when he saw Feliciano.

Ludwig stepped closer to his brother and was getting ready to fight in case his brother got too close. "Bruder, this is my friend. He uh...he's different from you and me, um..." Ludwig struggled to think of what to say. "He's um..."

Gilbert blinked at Feli, the two never broke eye contact, and shook his head. "I'll be damned."

"Gilbert?" Ludwig looked at him bewildered. "What did you say?"

He shook his head and turned to Ludwig. "Can he get back into the water?"

Ludwig was stunned at how serious Gilbert was being, especially since he just found out about Feli. "Um, I, no, I mean, he can't, swim out?"

Gilbert rolled his eyes and started out towards him. When Ludwig remained where he was, he turned to him with a glare on his face. "Are you going to help or not?"

Ludwig narrowed his eyes and followed his brother to Feli. The two picked him and carried him into deeper water. Ludwig carefully held his tail while absentmindedly petting his scales. Feli smiled gently at this and twitched his fin at 'Luddy.'

Gilbert held his human half and was quite strong, almost as strong as Ludwig, if not stronger. He watched his brother and Feli carefully and sighed. "Are you okay?"

Feli turned to the new person and pursed his lips. He nodded and blushed shyly. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."

Gilbert simply shrugged and continued deeper into the water. When he deemed it fit for him to be able to swim in, he wiggled out of their gasp. With a longing glance at Ludwig, Feli turned and went into the sparkling blue ocean water.

Ludwig sighed and watched the spot where Feli disappeared under, hoping that he would come back. When he didn't after a moment, he turned to his brother who was watching him. "What?"

"I need you to tell me everything you know about Feli."


	6. Chapter 6

Ludwig carefully stared at his brother. How did he even know his name? It wasn't like Feli had introduced himself to Gilbert before, had he? But because Gilbert hadn't freaked out like he did, and he knew the merman's name, he had to know him somehow?

He crossed his arms over his chest and avoided Gilbert's gaze. "I don't know what you mean, I was only trying to help the creature back into the water."

"Cut the bullshit and tell me the truth," Gilbert stepped closer to him and gave a dark look, one Ludwig rarely saw. "What do you know about Feliciano?"

Ludwig uncrossed his arms and sighed. His brother didn't even need to see through his words this time. It was stupid to think he could pull that one off. He closed his eyes and shifted mindlessly in the tide. "I think we should have this conversation at the house."

Gilbert carefully studied his younger brother to try and find any lies behind his words before nodding. "Then let's go." Without waiting for a response, he turned and started to the house. Gilbert didn't even hear Ludwig say anything,only hearing his footsteps following him.

It was a very silent and awkward walk back to their house, and Ludwig swore he could feel his brother's anger seething through the air. Gilbert rarely got angry, but when he did you were in trouble. Before their grandfather came to get them, a child had bullied Ludwig where they were waiting, making fun of his German accent and looks, calling him names and making horrible jokes. Gilbert had enough of it, got pissed off, and had punched him so hard he broke his nose.

Once they reached their house, Gilbert took out a key and unlocked the door. He turned and waved Ludwig to go in. "Look West," he followed him inside and slammed the door, "I get that you have secrets. But now we have to be honest, okay?" Ludwig hesitantly nodded. "How the fuck do you know Feliciano?"

Ludwig glanced around the room, as if somewhere there was a hidden answer for this situation. "I helped him back into the water before." He finally muttered under his breath.

"And he magically got in trouble again? You'd think he had learned his lesson," Gilbert sneered as he went to the kitchen and brought out a beer.

"H-he did, but he wanted to see me again and," Ludwig stopped when his brother glared at him. "Gilbert, I know that you are angry-"

"I'm not angry, Ludwig!" Gilbert snapped. He set down his beer with a shaking hand and took a deep breath. "I..I just didn't think I'd ever see him again."

Ludwig creased his eyebrows and stepped towards Gilbert. "You saw him before?"

Gilbert shook his head and swallowed. Ludwig saw tears swimming in his eyes and carefully walked over. "Bruder, what's wrong?"

"I saw him the night they died."

* * *

_Lightning flash above the two young boys in the water. The waves were starting to get wildly out of control and Gilbert was scared that he would lose his brother in the currents like their parents. "Ludwig! Hold on to me," a young albino shouted over the wind. "I don't want anything to happen to you!" _

_"Gilbert, I'm scared!" Ludwig cried back. _

_"Don't be, I'm here. I promise, we'll get out of this." He flashed him a smile and grabbed his arm. "Now, swim." _

_The two of them held onto each other for dear life, looking for land. The storm raged on, soaking the two even farther. The waves started to crash into each other as if it were a contest. Ludwig was struggling to keep up with his brother, but Gilbert made sure he was okay. "Come on, it can't be much farther ahead!" _

_"Gil, I don't see any land!" _

_"It's okay, we'll mak-" Gilbert stopped talking as a huge wave crashed over the two of them. It pushed them down deep into the water. Still grasping his hand tightly, Gilbert managed to push the two of them up to the surface, only to be pushed back down again into the water. Kicking his way back to the surface, Gilbert had pushed Ludwig along up to the surface to find that he was unconscious. "Ludwig? Luddy?! Luddy," he shook his brother harshly. "Wake up!" _

_Gilbert started to cry and held onto his brother tightly, not even noticing the wave behind him forming until he was knocked into the water again, this time his sight darkening as well. With a grunt of determination, he began to try and fight the current, but to no luck. With no energy left, he wasn't able to move as well as he could've. He continued to try until he felt nothing in his hands anymore. Shouting, and losing all of his remaining oxygen, he turned to find his brother had disappeared into the dark depths of the stormy water. _

_He began to panic and tried to search the water for anything, something, that would lead him to his brother. But the only effect that had was that he soon began to drown himself. He didn't have any energy left to drag himself back to the surface for air, nor any air left to spare himself. His lungs were on fire and it felt like somebody was squeezing his head. The albino felt himself begin to drift off into the darkness when he saw a flash of something. _

_A young merman watched the two from nearby. He had saw their boat go down and wanted to investigate what had happened to the humans occupying it. When he saw the parents drift away from the children, he went after them to try and help them. The two adult humans shook their heads madly, screaming to save their children instead. They didn't even question why a baby fish-boy had suddenly appeared, instead more concerned for their kids' lives. _

_With a regretting glance to the humans, Feliciano swam back to where the kids were as fast as his young body could and saw that they had been pushed underwater. The one with silver hair was barely conscious while his brother, with very odd hair, was already gone. He paused for a second in his thoughts and tried to process why humans had such weird hair colors. He decided to save that thought for later and with a push of his tail, set off towards the two. _

_He grasped the younger one first then swam quickly to the conscious one. When he grabbed his hand, the boy's eyes widened in shock and he tried to say something, but Feli was too busy trying to pull their weight up to the surface. Gilbert tried to help, but with what little energy he had he wasn't much help. _

_Still, Feli smiled at him for trying and swam towards calmer waters. When he finally managed to get them to a safer place, he brought them up to the surface. Gilbert took a sharp inhale of air and coughed out the water that had been drowning his lungs. Feli gave Ludwig to him and watched as Gilbert checked to see if he was okay. Ludwig's heart was still beating and he was breathing, but it was labored. Gilbert turned to Feli and swallowed deeply. "D-do you know where any land is?" _

_Feli blinked slowly as he tried to remember where some was. He knew where they were, but it was a while before they could actually get to some land. It would be about a full night before they could reach anything. _

_Gilbert mistook his confused silence as not being able to understand him. "Of course you don't speak English, you're a fish, what would you know?" _

_Feli looked up and frowned. "I can speak English, I'm trying to think!"_

_Gilbert shrieked like a little girl who just saw a mouse. "It talked!" _

_Feli sighed deeply and shook his head. He grabbed Gilbert's shaking hand and started off towards the land. Gilbert was shaking his head and panicking so badly he cried. _

_After a few hours of treading water, Feli stopped and turned towards Gilbert and a still unconscious Ludwig. "The land is just over there," he pointed to the beach. "Do you think you can make it that far?" _

_Gilbert nodded and began to swim but stopped. "Wait," he turned to Feli once more. "What's your name?" _

_Feli grinned slightly. "Ve, Feliciano Vargas, but my friends call me Feli. What's yours?" _

_"I'm the awesome Gilbert. And this is my not so awesome of a brother, Luddy." _

_"Those are weird names."_

_"Says the fishy boy!" _

_The two of them laughed until an awkward silence took over them. Gilbert glanced towards the shore and back again. "Thank you for your help with this." Feli nodded and watched as Gilbert took them back to the shore before disappearing into the water._

* * *

A silence fell over the household as Ludwig watched his brother drink his beer awkwardly. Ludwig couldn't process this. Feliciano, his Feli, had saved him and his brother before when their parents had died? Gilbert had said that he brought him to the shore and waited until he woke up before he searched for somebody to help them. His brother...lied to him?

"Why didn't you tell me?" Gilbert looked up to see his brother glaring at him with his arms crossed. "You lied."

"No, I just left out some of the truth. Feliciano and I did take you back to the shore, but I said only I did."

Ludwig shook his head and left the room. "Ludwig, wait." Gilbert stood up and tried to go after his brother, but his only response was a door slamming from upstairs. He sighed and threw his beer bottle across the room. "This is so not awesome."

* * *

Feliciano Vargas was swimming faster than he ever had before. Not only did he attack his brother for a human, but he left with the human and he knew his brother had saw him go onto shore for him. Not only that, but when he went back into the water, his brother was gone. Meaning two things, one that Lovino was mad (but he always was anyway), or two that he had told Grandpa about this (which was another likely option).

When he finally reached their home he knew he was too late. His grandpa was waiting outside for him and he swam up so fast he nearly swam into Feli. His Grandfather brought him into a strong hug and began sobbing. Feli instantly felt the guilt seep into him as he awkwardly "stood" there. "Grandpa? Grandpa, I'm fine, I just-"

"I thought you died!" Roma sobbed. "When Lovino told me what happened and how you didn't come back for hours, I thought you were killed!"

He brought Feli out of the hug and grabbed his shoulders tightly. "Don't you ever do that again! Do you understand me? Never again!" He brought him back into a hug and squeezed tightly. "I don't want to lose you too."

Feli hugged him back and watched the light dance under the water for a bit as his grandpa babbled on about how dangerous that was, how risky it was, how he could've died, the usual speech he received when he was on shore or too close to the land for too long.

After a while, Roma released him from their embrace and let him be while he thought over the situation. While his grandfather was doing that, Feli tracked down Lovino. Something wasn't right, if Lovino had told Roma what had happened, things would've been different. He wouldn't be able to leave their cave if something like that had happened and Roma heard about it.

"Fratello," Lovino called from his section of their cave. Feli swam over to him and watched his brother rise up, anger clearly written all over him. "What the hell was that?"

Feli took a deep breath and crossed his arms to try and look braver than he was. "I could ask you the same thing, why did you try and hurt Ludwig?"

"The human?" Lovino swam closer to him with his gills flapping angrily. "Why do you know that human's name?"

Feli looked to the ground and rubbed his hair absentmindedly. "He's uh...my friend." At the look of his eyes widening, Feli realized his mistake and quickly tried to cover it up. "He wouldn't ever hurt me, Lovino, he's a nice guy! You would like him, really, he's so nice and...and.."

His brother's glare stunned him and he gulped. "Lovino, really, he wouldn't do anything to hurt me. I swear."

After a moment of tension, Lovino shook his head and raised his fist. Feli flinched and held up his arm to defend himself. Lovino shook his head and put it down. "If I ever see something like that again, I swear I'll tell grandpa the truth, got it?" Feli nodded vigorously. "I protected you before and I sure as hell will do so later."

Lovino swam past him without another word and Feli only glanced over his shoulder at him. He sighed in relief and swam over to his part of their cave. Once he rested on the sand, he smiled and finally relaxed. He had spent way too much time on land lately and he needed some rest.


	7. Chapter 7

The bright sun blinded the German sitting on the beach. He had been waiting for his friend for over an hour already and he was getting somewhat worried. Usually, if he waited for over ten minutes he'd call for Feli and he would show up.

Not this time.

Ludwig was tempted to get a boat or something and go out, but he wouldn't know where to even start looking. The ocean was just so big that he was somewhat scared of the idea alone. The list of possibilities was endless-sinking, getting lost, drowning, getting eaten, and what scared him the most was another storm.

Ludwig sighed heavily and leaned back down on the sand. He had gotten used to the burning feeling and the rough texture of it long ago. After a while, even the sound of the waves crashing in front of him oddly comforted him. The warmth and sounds around him made him comfortable and he soon found his eyes begin to droop into sleep.

Just as he was about to completely fall asleep, he heard some shouting far off. He jumped with a jolt and immediately scanned the water. It was almost too easy to miss, but he eventually saw a hand waving to him far off in the distance.

At first, he blamed his off vision. Because he'd have been in the sun so long with his eyes closed, his vision was more green than any other color now. He furiously rubbed his eyes to try and get rid of it before he gave up in the task and stood.

His vision was still stuck on the weird camera mode when he saw the hand off in the distance again. Ludwig gasped to himself and quickly ran into the water without thinking about his fears.

When he realized what he was actually doing he stopped and tried to decide what to do. The once comforting waves were splashing on his shins and the cold temperature of them were just more proof that they were no longer comforting.

He quickly evaluated what he could do as an alternate root. There was some rocks that had made a barrier next to him. He had never really learned what they were called or what purpose they even served, but it was solid and something to walk on.

Ludwig marked the place where the hand was in his mind and turned to the rocks. It would be faster than just trying to swim and eventually drown.  
The rocks had a rough surface and were dry to the touch. The rocks were so dull in color he felt his skin dry as though looks could touch.

With a grunt he pulled himself onto the dry rocks and immediately wished he brought shoes. The sand was hot but the rock was even worse. He sighed. It was just his luck. Ludwig shrugged it off and began to jog, minding the wet spots. He knew better to try and run on slippery surfaces.

When Ludwig couldn't spot the merman in the distance he felt his heart drop. Had Feliciano given up and left? He had waited for so long he almost prayed that he was still there. Maybe if he just got closer he could see him...

He edged towards the water, oblivious to the danger he was putting himself in. The waves splashed onto the rocks he was standing on, and one had wobbled a bit when the water retreated back into the ocean.

"Feli? Feliciano! Are you there?" Ludwig called desperately. "Answer me!"

He stepped forward again on the lose rock. The rock, predictably, gave out and pulled Ludwig into the water. He didn't even have time to give a shout before he went under. With a sharp pain in his ankle, he tried to kick up to the surface.

The pain immediately burned more and he glanced down to find a twisted ankle. He quickly began to panic and tried to get to the surface with just his hands. Although he was right next to the rock wall, he was in very deep and in such panic that it was although nothing was near.

Just as he was about to give up hope, two hands grabbed him around the chest and pulled him up to the surface. The air had never felt so good before as it had now that he could actually breathe.

After a few seconds of continuous coughing and panting, Ludwig glanced over to see none other than...nothing?

He was sure that something was there. After all if Feliciano hadn't saved him, what did? "Feli," he asked with caution wrapped around his voice. "Feli are you there?"

"Ve, of course I am!"

Ludwig jumped from being startled like that. He turned around to see Feli next to him on the rocks. His tail was barely dipping into the water as he spread out on the rocks. Ludwig could almost hear the muscles stretching as Feliciano reached for the sky and leaned back. "Who else would save you, Luddy?"

Ludwig blushed at the nickname and coughed into his fist again awkwardly. "W-what are you doing up on land?"

With his eyes closed and arms behind his back? Feliciano looked like he was on vacation at the beach. The merman simply shrugged and laughed at his friends expression. "I can go on land, you know. A lot of the time I can't go too far without water but as long as my tail and gills are wet I'm fine."

Ludwig watched the tail shimmer in the sun. The blue scales were almost like his own eyes, only a few shades darker and it seemed to blend into a whitish color at the fins. Where the black was a tint of yellow followed. It reminded him of the forgetful fish in a movie he once saw years ago. His eyes tracked up the body to his belly. Feliciano wasn't very muscular but he had a few stray scales that dotted his skin. Under the rib cage it looked like a few scars. Ludwig grimaced at them and hoped that it was just an accident or something mild. The blue eyes continued tier way up to Feli's neck where his gills were flapping slowly. Without a constant water source constantly surrounding them they seemed almost confused. Ludwig leaned a bit closer before realizing that Feli had scales around his gills as well. They covered his back neck too and disappeared around his back. Ludwig was almost tempted to ask him to turn when a giggle caught his attention.

Feli had been shy to show Ludwig all of his body willingly but he supposed it was fine now. He watched Ludwig's eyes travel around his body and he felt his chest tighten. He had the entire attention of the person he had lov-er...liked the most. Definitely. Just friend wise. Just, with odd feelings.

Shaking his head he saw Ludwig staring at his gills. They flapped a bit faster in response to Feli feeling his heart lift up higher and he giggled a bit.

Ludwig watched the cute boy's face. It had a few freckles that had framed his face very well. If he had wanted to, he would've reached out and touch his face. Hold his cheek in his hand and kiss him gently on the lips.

He shook his head quickly. That wouldn't ever happen. Feli was a merman there was no way he had those feelings for him. There were mermaids down there for him anyway.

But Feliciano slowly reached out and held Ludwig's hand. The German blushed intensely and seemed to freeze on watching tier hands. Feli giggled again and slowly leaned towards Ludwig, closing his eyes softly.

Ludwig blushed even more as he contemplated on doing. Without even waiting to think, his body made a choice and began to lean back towards Feli, closing his eyes tightly in case something uh...happened.

Just as their lips were about to meet, Ludwig's ankle pierced him with pain again. He yelped and jumped back-which effectively ruined the moment.

Feli sighed and opened his eyes and looked down at Ludwig's foot. He gasped and jumped back. "You're...you're hurt!" He stated loudly.

The German cursed a stream of cuss words in his native tongue and glared at Feli. "Ja, I know!"

Feli creased his eye brows with worry and watched him try to get up. Feli gasped when he fell onto the ground after his leg not being able to take the weight. "Luddy?"

This was bad. His phone was with his things on the beach. He couldn't go get it, obviously, but he wouldn't dare ask Feli to bring him it. Besides, even if he did Feli would go through water to bring it back to him. And if you didn't already know, phones do not mix with water very well.

He was so deep in thought that he didn't realize Feli trying to gain his attention. He was watching him with deep concern in his eyes and looked like somebody had just popped his balloon. "Did you hear me, Ludwig?"

Ludwig blinked a couple of times and shook his head. "Nein, I'm sorry. What did you say?"

The merman pointed at his twisted ankle and shook his head slowly. "I haven't seen that on many humans before. Is that suppose to happen?" He looked back up at Ludwig's face. "Because if it is, humans are really weird."

Ludwig sighed and counted to ten. He didn't really get annoyed with Feli all that much, but today was a very very different occasion. His patience was running very thin with all the pain he was in that moment. "No," he whispered gently, if he said it any louder he would lose his temper. "No, it's not suppose to happen. I can't move on this."

Feli seemed to understand what he was saying before joining him in thought. After a couple minutes he broke the silence with a very good question to think about. "How are you going to get home?"

Obviously, the answer was to call Gilbert, if he wasn't already drunk, and have him bring their truck down here. From there they could easily get him to the hospital and get a few days rest before coming back here to calm Feliciano from worrying too much. But to be simpler to Feli, Ludwig decided to tell him that he needs his phone instead. "What's a phone?"

Ludwig face palmed and groaned. "Feliciano, please listen to me."He had the needed attention and continued on. "I need to get to the shore to call me bruder to come get me. I won't be able to come back for a while, but I promise you that I will and once I do I hope that we could," he turned and blushed brightly to himself. "Hang out or something."

"Ve, I'd like that a lot!"

"Great. But now we have to think of what we need to do to get me there."

Feli only had one single logical answer to that:swim. If he couldn't walk, then Feli could just take him to the shore and try to help him from there. However, once he had recited his idea to Ludwig, the German got flustered and shook his head. "Nein, nein, I dont think that would be a very good idea, Feli."

"Why not? It'd be very easy and you wouldn't have to move until you get on land." Feli gave him the guppy eyes and made something close to a cat face. "Pleaaaase?"

Ludwig groaned and gritted his teeth together. On one hand he could just stay here with Feli and enjoy the day together with him. The cute boy was now batting his eyes at him to add to the effect of begging. But on the other hand he was in a lot of pain and knew that he needed to see a doctor.

The blonde groaned and nodded. "Fine, but be careful!"

* * *

"This was by far one of the worst ideas I have ever actually been in, and those usually go very very badly."

"Aw, come on, it isn't that bad!"

Ludwig was sliding down the rocks carefully with Feli waiting to catch him in the water. Ludwig was hesitant at first, but now he was just against the idea. He usually got dragged into Gilbert's crazy schemes and almost always they would get into trouble. After a few years of this, he had developed something of a sixth sense. He would always get a feeling when a plan would go desperately wrong.

And it was going off right now.

"Nein, Feli. I won't do it. Maybe Gilbert will come down and see me."

Feli sighed and rolled his eyes. "Gilbert might be drunking-"

"Drinking." Ludwig automatically corrected with a hint of amusement. "And that is true..." He bit his lip, thinking for a moment before he sighed. "This is not a good idea."  
Slowly, he edged towards the water off the rocks. He winced when he had no more area to move to and let himself fall. Feli caught him, even though they both went underwater from the force and weight of Ludwig.

Feli was fine, he laughed actually when they went under. But Ludwig's face was not in amusement or joy, but in pain. He was holding his ankle tightly as if that would save him. Feli's face quickly turned from his usually smile to one of concern. "Luddy, are you okay?"

When Ludwig didn't respond, Feli took a hold of his arms and swam to the surface quickly. The human gasped when they broke the surface and coughed harshly to expel the water in his lungs.

"Luddy?" Ludwig turned to Feliciano. The brunet's face was in deep concern. "You okay?"

With effort, Ludwig managed to grunt and nod slowly. "Let's just get to the shore." Feli nodded eagerly and slowly dragged them back. The waves helped push them to the shore, but it still took a lot of effort with the weight of Ludwig, and they both could tell. By the time they had actually managed to get to the shore, Feli started to rely more and more on Lugwig to get himself the rest of the way.

Once Ludwig had deemed himself on his own, he began to army crawl towards his bag. Luckily, it didn't lay too far, but it still took more effort to get his phone out and wait for his obnoxious brother to pick up. He glanced over at Feliciano, who was sitting in the water, red faced.

"Hey, less awesome bruder! What's up?" Gilbert's voice boomed in his ear.

"Hello, Gilbert. I twisted my ankle. You need to come and pick me up." He muttered into the phone. He hated asking for help and even more so from his brother.

"Oh, do tell. How did you manage that?"

"...It doesn't matter."

"Does it have something to do with that fish?" Ludwig could hear his smirk through the phone. "Kesesesese! I'll be there in a few minutes, bro." The phone call ended and Ludwig groaned. He could count on his brother, but sometimes it showed that he was the older one out of them.

Ludwig glanced over to Feli and saw him rub some of the water onto his gills and fins out of the water. He tilted his head but smirked anyway. Feli looked over and smiled in his adorable way. Feli giggled and waved to Ludwig, "What did he say?"

Ludwig shrugged. "He'll be here soon." Feli nodded and smiled. "But, he wants to see you."

Feli perked up and brightened up. "Really?"

"Ja, he won't stop bugging me about it. It's very annoying." Ludwig's grin felt like it had been lifted even higher when Feli's did. 'He is so beautiful when he smiles,' Ludwig thought in his dreamy state of love.

Feli suddenly blushed and smiled into his hands. Ludwig backtracked. Did he say that out loud? Oh, gott, did he say that out loud?!

Before he could get an answer, Ludwig heard Gilbert's truck coming from the distance. Because they had a private beach on their grandfather's property, he didn't have to worry about anybody seeing the truck or the merman, or anything. And for once, he was relieved that nobody had to seem his brother come out to help him.

"Oh bruder!"

Ludwig rolled his eyes and looked over at Gilbert's truck driving up on the beach. He was leaning on the horn to make his arrival as loud as possible. Feli flinched at the sound and scooted back a bit in the water from the sound and the machine barreling towards them at such an alarming rate. Ludwig simply glared at his, once again, obnoxious brother, from a distance.

"Feli, you know Gilbert."


End file.
